Here is my break down how I see the 2016 National League playing out in terms of standings, win totals, and playoff teams (in italics). Part 1 with the American League is already posted.

NL East

After being hyped and favored for years, the Nationals are in prime position to fly under the radar and remain in the shadow of the breakout and media darling Mets. Washington's rotation is no slouch compared to the much ballyhooed rotation residing in the Queens. MVP Bryce Harper is poised for another monster season along with a walk-year Stephen Strasburg. There is more balance to the Nats than Mets and over the course of 162, they will be the better team.

I'm not writing the Mets off completely. They certainly can't be ignored, as they will bring their powerhouse rotation into a second straight October via the Wild Card. Their reliance on another monster season from Cespedes worries me offensively, as I don't see him coming near his career year in 2015. No team is going to want to face this team with their rotation of #1's. They are built for October.

Miami will reap the rewards of beating up on Philly and Atlanta, but will have a tough time competing with Washington and New York. Miami needs a healthly Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Fernandez, a continued breakout of Dee Gordon and much more to all go right for them to rise above the middle of the pack.

Freddie Freeman and Ender Inciarte is a great place to start for a franchise trying to collect enough young talent for the future. Freeman may not be around to see any more playoffs with Atlanta, and Inciarte certainly could be spun for more value as Atlanta is clearly in re-build mode for the foreseeable future. Any veterans or non-core young players who put together a good year will be shopped at the deadline.

Philadelphia has finally bottomed out after trying to drag out their veteran core for 3 years longer than they should have. At least they are now in a position to fully tank and start collecting picks and prospects. They should easily be a bottom 3 team in all of baseball.

NL Central

The Cubs are easily the most talented team in the MLB, but I still think they will face adversity with ultra-competitive rivals in a tough division. Some sophomore slumps could be in store as the league adjusts. They have the guns to put the pedal to the medal all season and stomp toward 100 wins, but I think they will be in a position to keep guys fresh and limit innings down the stretch. The Pirates and Cardinals will not go away easily and will keep the Cubs shy of 100 wins many have predicted.

The Pirates are probably sick of the Wild Card after being bounced in the last 2 Octobers due to the wild card format. This year will be no different as they ride their pitching staff and perennial MVP Candidate Andrew McCutchen. The Cubs have more depth and talent to let Pittsburgh overcome them for the division, and St. Louis will be in it until the end.

St. Louis lost too much talent to the Cubs in Jason Heyward and John Lackey for them to earn their seemingly ritualistic postseason ticket. 86 Wins seems right for this veteran and proven Cards team, but it won't be enough this year. They will play a big role in September in the alignment of the National League playoff picture, but will barely miss out on the 2nd wild card.

Hopefully the Reds let Billy Hamilton steal every time he gets on base and mic up Brandon Phillips each game, because that's the extent of Reds excitement this year. I guess a Joey Votto trade would be fun to see how much young talent they could inject into their system, but who knows if they will pull the trigger on saying goodbye to their franchise player. They should.

The Brew Crew boasts one of the best catchers and most underrated players in the game in Jonathan Lucroy, and then a roster full of nobodies. I'm sure the beer selection is great, though Miller Park is not on the list of 17 stadiums I've been to, so I don't know for a fact. The beers better be flowing after Lucroy is sold off for prospects, because this team is weak and I'm sure fans would rather attend Packers mini-camp in the summer.

NL West

I swear I don't believe in the even-year Giants magic. I do believe that Buster Posey is still underrated, Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik are the best up the middle combo in baseball, and that Cueto and Samardzija don't have to be worth their contracts for them to provide real help to this team in the pitching friendly division and AT&T park. They just need to be reliable and log solid innings behind Bumgarner and a newly healthy Matt Cain. They are playoff tested and have all-around depth and balance.

The Dodgers front office has diversified their talent levels across the team's depth, but I think they will sorely miss Zach Greinke behind Kershaw. Their rotation is already missing pieces and could be in real trouble if Kershaw misses any time. Carl Crawford and Joc Pederson are question marks who may be yanked around between starting jobs and bench time all year under new manager Dave Roberts. This is a good, not great team. Los Angeles already has too many injury concerns to surpass the Giants in 2016

Arizona is a lot of hype that I'm not buying into. Goldschmidt and Grienke are two of the best players in Baseball but they gave up a lot of talent and resources in making their offseason moves. Any strides they've made in bolstering the rotation will be lost with the removal of Ender Inciarte from CF and lead-off after being dealt to Atlanta (among other players) for Shelby Miller.

San Diego admirably went all-in for 2015 and fell short. They gave up a lot of future resources for the one year run, but do have Wil Myers and some prospects from the Kimbrel trade remaining. Unfortunately their pitching isn't as good as 2015 and their offense doesn't show any more upside than 2015. I'm all aboard the Jabari Blash bandwagon and think Yangervis Solarte will emerge as one of the most underrated players in the game, but it won't be enough to keep them in contention with the surrounding roster. Myers living up to the hype, Tyson Ross & Andrew Cashner returning a haul of prospects in trades are some developments which could accelerate any future success for the Pads.

Colorado has a lot of good positional players, but lack pitching (per usual). Nolan Arenado is a superstar hidden in Colorado. Pay more attention to that guy, fans. I'm having doubts about picking the Padres over them after looking into their rosters a bit further, but I'm going to stick with my spreadsheet standings and deal with the consequences later.

I thought it would be fun to publish some predictions for the 2016 season to look back on at various points in the future to see how wrong and out of touch I am, or to feed my already over-inflated ego.

I'm a few days late in posting this, but I did complete this prediction sheet before the first game on Sunday night. If anyone feels the need to question my integrity by digging through e-mails, Hillary Clinton style, we can do that! I have no problem with providing proof that I sent over my predictions to my brother before 2016's first official pitch!

Here's how I see the 2016 American League playing out in terms of standings, win totals, and playoff teams (in italics):

AL East

Toronto's offensive firepower will be too much for the rest of the East’s mediocre rotations to outlast, but their bullpen will keep them from clinching early. They may need to bolster their staff at some point to make up for the loss of David Price, but Marcus Stroman is a great place to start.

Boston solved a lot of issues with acquisitions Price, Kimbrel and Carson Smith, but have a lot bad decisions like Pablo Sandoval and Rusney Castillo kicking around. Their young core up the middle should progress enough to bring them out of the basement, but there are too many question marks in the rotation and bullpen to hit 90+ wins. Dombrowski will most likely add talent mid-season, but it will only be enough to win the Wild Card.

The Yankees bullpen could be historic and will most certainly be their strength as they try to shorten games. I can't see Teixeira and A-Rod replicating what they did last year to carry them to a playoff berth. I like Pineda and Eovaldi, but unless become #1's, I don't see a finish higher than 3rd place.

Pitching should once again be Tampa Bay's meal ticket for success, and I buy into their staff. Archer is a legitimate Ace, Cobb could be back mid-season, and I think Matt Moore is going to surprise people that haven’t given him much thought. I don't see enough offense to keep their pitchers from a lot of undeserved L's like the Mariner's clubs of the last 10 years.

Baltimore made a lot of questionable decisions in the off-season and have players like Kevin Gausman and Matt Wieters that should be cornerstone players for them, but are still question marks years into their careers. While other teams like the Astros and Nationals are turning top picks into sure-fire All-Stars, the Orioles are just hoping for above average production. That's not going to get in done in the AL East.

AL Central

Cleveland's starting staff will be too formidable for the rest of the talented Central to overcome. The Indians are not strong enough in other areas to run away with this division too easily, but with they are poised to make a deep run in the playoffs under Terry Francona and a full season of Francisco Lindor.

The youth and vigor of the Royals is a strength, but after two deep runs into October, I think fatigue will catch up with the 2016 club. The back of their bullpen is always a strength for the most recent incarnations of this team, however workload could be a problem and bullpen performance can always be volatile year to year. There is too much talent, athleticism, and drive to write them off completely. They will make it 3 years in a row of October baseball via a Wild Card Spot.

Detroit is full of elite veterans who could all put together healthy seasons and make a run for it. I don't think that health will last all year. Victor Martinez, Miggy, and Verlander all have had some health issues lately and the likelihood they are all out there for full seasons while J.D. Martinez is bashing baseballs across Lake Michigan is very low. I think the Tigers hang around long enough to sabotage their chances of making any smart trades for the future for a franchise that desperately needs to inject youth.

Minnesota shows some promise with the organization's farm system ready to graduate top prospects, but there just isn't enough veteran talent to warrant anything much over a .500 record in this division. They’ll show some flashes, but their time has yet to come.

2016 is the year where Chris Sale's body breaks down with his extremely violent delivery which won't help this already poor performing team. I don't think the White Sox have much going for them in 2016 other than being a punching bag for the rest of the league. ​

AL West

The Astros have soared from being the laughingstock of the league, to being stacked with young, cheap, and extremely talented players. Whatever natural regression they may have from the great strides that were made in 2015 will be mitigated by their continued development of Altuve, Springer, and my MVP favorite Carlos Correa.

Texas adds a full season of Cole Hamels and eventually returns Yu Darvish to their already impressive and balanced roster. Texas will be a team to be reckoned with, but it won’t be enough to make the grade for October. I don't have much faith in the bullpen, and they will have to baby Darvish back to health after Tommy John surgery.

I'd love to predict the return of Mariners playoff baseball, which the world hasn't seen since 2001, but they don’t have the guns in the very talented American League. Cano, Taijuan Walker, and Hultzen could breakout to compliment great seasons from Seager, King Felix, Iwakuma and make me eat crow, but that’s still likely not enough. There's definite upside here, and I think if I'm end up about leaving a team in the AL out of the playoffs, it's Seattle.

The Angels are always fun to watch with Mike Trout being the best player at everything on the field. Unfortunately, the surrounding roster is questionable at best. The front office has had years of bad contracts and decisions catch up to them, while simultaneously failing to develop a new wave of talent to surround their megastar with.

Oakland has the very talented ace Sonny Gray, Josh Reddick, Sean Doolittle, and little else to offer. Billy Beane might be selling pieces off as early as June.

One year ago today, my brother and I sat thirteen rows up into the Fenway Park bleachers behind the Boston bullpen with the Red Sox having been one hit in Game 1 of the ALCS and being thoroughly silenced again through 7 1/2 innings down 5-1. The mood was nothing short of gloomy and depressing with 40,000 people knowing that a two game deficit going back to Detroit to face Tiger Ace Justin Verlander was a death sentence to any hope of going to the World Series.

After a double and a walk, the thought that David Ortiz could come up with the bases loaded and the first real opportunity to make it a series could arise entered everyone's thoughts. That perfect scenario arose with the nerve-wracking drama being extended as the Tigers Joaquin Benoit slowly trotted in for this crucial moment. Something that seemed so possible yet so unfathomable was on everyone's mind. Suddenly, within one pitch, it played out more incredibly than any of the millions of different versions which were being scripted in the minds of anyone watching.

I remember seeing that low flying missile off the bat coming toward our direction making its uncertain path toward the bullpen while noticing gold-glover Torii Hunter making his late entrance into the scene. I knew it had a chance, I knew it could be caught; hit hard enough, but not far enough to be certain.

Waiting...

hoping...

TIE GAME!

Pandemonium.

Ortiz rounded the bases. I screamed. I yelled like a girl. I cursed like a sailor. I stood on the top of my seat and surrounding seats for a good minute and a half screaming, yelling at fans behind me while attempting high fives and fist bumps. I could not believe what just happened.

This was undoubtedly the most electrifying moment I have ever experienced. I was still standing on my seat celebrating while barely aware that Torii Hunter was being attended to for injuries, or that pitch hitter Mike Napoli had come into the game to pinch hit and was in the middle of an at bat (I finally looked back to see the final swing of this at bat, not even realizing the game had continued). Fenway Park was on its feet and buzzing well into the next half inning. We had 17 innings of pent up frustration of watching the Sox bats be silenced with nothing to cheer for and no hope. Within one half inning, and one gigantic swing of the bat, David Ortiz awakened the team and its fans from the dead. Fenway went from funeral to absolute bedlam.Without this moment, the Red Sox undoubtedly lose this series and don't even sniff seeing St. Louis in the World Series. So while 10/30/13 will always be in my head as the date I stood and watched the Red Sox win their first World Series at Fenway Park since 1918, 10/13/13 will always be the other date from the magical 2013 season that stands out in my mind. One never happens without the other.

A lot is said about Scott Boras- most of it is rather negative. A quick check of the ever-reliable Urban Dictionary so succinctly defines 'Scott Boras' as "The Jack-Ass of All Trades. The Guy who destroyed baseball."

Hate him or love him, the guy is ridiculously good at his job and nobody has destroyed baseball. They are doing just fine.

As the ultimate salesman and pitchman of MLB players, Boras has grown a reputation for creating some interesting phrases and rather mind-blowing analogies.

We could spend a week discussing the world's opinion of Scott Boras and what is said about him, but I decided it would be more interesting to take a look at what he says and what the hell he actually means with some of his phrases and tactics. This should help any fan understand what exactly this man is talking about as he controls the entire MLB Free Agency period.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Amateur Draft Picks of all ages!!! I now present...

﻿The Boras Thesaurus!﻿﻿Pillow Contract- Made famous by Boras and client Adrian Beltre coming off of a mediocre 2009. Boras turned down multiple multi-year contracts and steered Beltre to the Red Sox on a 1 year 10 million dollar deal to re-establish value. According to Boras, “A pillow contract is, basically, you lay down, it’s comfortable, it’s soft, it’s there. But the fact of the matter is it’s not with you all the time. That’s a one-year contract. Your pillow, you leave it, you come back, it’s there,” said Boras. “Short-term, you use it for a little bit, then you move on.”

This worked like a charm for Boras and Beltre, as Adrian did a lot of damage with the bat (and body- cracking Jacoby Ellsbury's rib) and found a lucrative 5 year 80 million dollar contract with Texas. Value; re-established.

Donut Contract- A recent trend for the past few years has been teams signing their young players to long term contracts even when the players are 4-5 years away from free agency. The team can offer a lot less because the 29 other teams are unable to bid on the players until free agency. The player enjoys the long-term security of signing a $20-30 million dollar deal at age 24 or 25 even if it means they give up the $60-80 Million at age 29 or 30. Teams do this to control cost and players do it to ensure their families are multi-millionaires for generations to come. Teams have been adding option years to the ends of these contracts which gives them more control over the players and keeps them away from Free Agency.In an industry where previous and current player contracts are compared and used as baselines for future negotiations, Boras wants to see the best contracts and dollars going to players even if they are not his clients. This is why he has recently come out to take shots at players and agents for signing these team friendly deals. He calls them Donut Contracts because there are, "a lot of sugar at the beginning, and a lot of holes at the end." The sugar at the beginning refers to the upfront and guaranteed money the players receive, but the holes at the end are the money and future earnings they are losing out on by agreeing to these deals. Like I said earlier, mind-blowing analogies. Boras seems to prefer the Fun-Dip contract- sugar for days!

Boras Binder- The ostentatious binder the Boras Corporation produces for teams when one of its big clients reaches Free Agency. Like this one they made for Prince Fielder. 73 Pages! That is an excruciating amount of detail. I feel bad for any of Boras' ex-girlfriends. What sort of minutia do you have to include to fill a binder with that much information on a baseball player?

- Prince's performance in his three middle school spelling bees?- How many people ask him to pinky swear when he claims he's a vegetarian?- Biography of his first childhood pet?

I don't get it. I'm pretty sure it was actually just filled with Prince's 73 favorite Alfredo dishes his personal chef makes him.

It really should have been 73 suggestions on how to run the bases better. Thank you again Prince for not showing up for the 2013 ALCS. You will always have a spot in this Red Sox fan's 3 championship-ring binder.

﻿Mystery Team﻿- The 31st Major League Franchise that has no field, no stadium, no fans, no payroll, no ability to sign players, yet always influences the 30 real MLB teams every offseason when Boras uses their fake existence as a threat to teams in the market to sign his clients. The Mystery Team came really close to signing players such as Alex Rodriguez, Matt Holliday, Barry Zito, and Mark Tiexeira until Boras got real teams to bid against themselves.

I'm fairy certain that in 20 years a retired Boras will sail around the world in a $25 Million yacht called "The Mystery Team."

Repeat Game- Yes even Scott Boras can get downright childish and get away with it. Sometimes you don't need a thesaurus or translator because Scott will go 2nd grade on your ass and mock your organization using the Repeat Game:

In an interview with ESPN.com, Boras mocked the Tigers' statement with almost identical wording."Max Scherzer made a substantial long-term contract extension offer to the Detroit Tigers that would have placed him among the highest-paid pitchers in baseball," Boras told ESPN.com. "And the offer was rejected by Detroit."Here is the exact wording used earlier by the Tigers:"The Detroit Tigers have made a substantial, long-term contract extension offer to Max Scherzer that would have placed him among the highest paid pitchers in baseball, and the offer was rejected."Sometimes you gotta ditch the new catchphrases and just go old-school. This is why he is the best in the biz.

"Talent has no wristwatch"- This is a Boras quote/excuse to deflect any negative press or questioning of his tactics. Sometimes Boras' tactics are questioned when his clients go deep into Free Agency and into the next season without signing with a new team. He is a big believer in holding his clients out for more money and clearly believes time doesn't matter.

Boras can no longer claim rival agents will treat clients like pieces of meat when he literally compared his clients to pieces of meat. "People call me all the time and say, “Man, your players aren’t signed yet.” Well, it doesn’t really matter what time dinner is when you’re the steak."

Eventually the steak is going to get cold and the restaurant isn't making money if no one is showing up to buy the steak. I'm thinking about this too hard.

As far as I know, he stopped short of calling their talent "rare", "well done" or "raw." Unfortunately for Scott, it was only the 2nd best steak themed sales pitch of all time.

If you’re a pure baseball fan, you should care about, and root for parity.

Inevitably, each fan is going to gravitate and root for his or her “team”- that is completely natural. Rooting for your “team” inevitably is a package deal including natural rivalries built from divisional alignments and prior history. There are teams you do not want to see do well no matter the circumstances- e.g., Red Sox & Yankees, Dodgers & Giants, and most recently the Reds & Cardinals.

Aside from those heated rivalries, true fans of the game should appreciate and maybe even root for those teams whose recent history has not treated them so kindly and have had to deal with 15+ years of playoff droughts and irrelevance.

Every season, my brother and I informally discuss and pick teams that we think “would be cool if they were good.” Usually these teams are ones who have not been relevant in 6+ years, and especially teams who have had no real history of contending in 10-15 years.

Our informal tradition (#oxymoron) has seen some success over the years. Even as die-hard Red Sox fans, we grew tired of seeing the AL East brethren Devil Rays be a complete non-factor in any American League discussion or consideration. We saw that they were picking at the top of the draft class year after year and kept predicting that eventually those top picks would pan out and they would put something together. Well 2008 finally saw the Rays put it together and unfortunately the aforementioned top picks “put it together” against the Red Sox and saw the likes of B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, and David Price swat and shut down the defending champions to finally make their presence known. The Tampa franchise has not looked back and have constantly been a thorn in the sides of the AL East Alphas ever since..

Even the successful and revered Baltimore Orioles found themselves in a rut of irrelevance and non-contention for a long span of recent history. From 1998-2011, the Orioles did not crack 80 wins in one single season. Near the end of this run even I began to feel bad. My brother and I discussed how it would be good to see them contend again and turn things somewhat around. They are a classic franchise with a beautiful and historic Camden Yards which will go down in history as ushering the era of new and modern ballpark boom. Despite all of this, they had barely scratched relevance in my conscious years as a mid-twenties baseball fan. To me they were basement dwellers who had a pretty storied history before I was close to joining this world.

The 2011 Orioles squad only scratched out 69 wins, but the 69th was quite the thorn in the Red Sox side and finished off the infamous “chicken and beer” collapse of the 2011 Red Sox. Since then, the Orioles have had the Red Sox number (to the tune of 24-13),finally made the playoffs in 2012 with 93 wins, and were in the thick of the race in 2013 with 85 wins.

First the Rays, now the Orioles...“Be careful what you ask for”, indeed.

For years and years, the two biggest teams in need of some relevance were the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates. 2013 was amazing to finally see the Pirates break through after not having a winning season since 1992. Not only did they get their winning season, they popped off 93 wins and a playoff birth. It was so awesome to see suffering fans of Pittsburgh fill the breathtaking PNC Park with excitement and jubilation baseball fans in their city had not seen since I was 3 years old.

2013 capped off a stretch of nearly every team finally getting their fun in the sun. Even the Royals remained relevant until the end with 86 games.

As 2014 has begun, I have struggled to figure out who is left. Who “would be cool if they were good again”? There are not many teams that fit the bill.. The game has seen a great amount of parity in the last decade where nearly every team has had their year where they have had legitimate hope and were playing relevant games into late September and beyond.

Is it the Astros even though they made the World Series in 2005? They have been wretched the past few years, but they are stacking up their farm system heavily and they won 86 games in 2008.

The Rangers came from the toiling in the AL West basement for a few years to win back-to-back AL Pennants. The A’s have won back to back division titles after some down years. The 2010 Reds broke through after many years in the dumps and it was “cool that they were good again.” They have topped 90 games in 3 of the last 4 seasons. The Nationals have finally burst onto the scene following the same path as the Rays and their years of stacking top draft picks. The Indians broke out of their mini-drought in 2013.

Any of the teams that may fit into this category in 2014 have been relevant at some point in recent history. It now becomes a cyclical game to answer the question, because the teams remaining who are “due” to be good again were good 4-6 years ago. We are no longer seeing 10-15 year droughts. Most of the gaps have been closed and there is a healthy parity happening in baseball.

For now we are left with the Jays (85 wins ‘10), the Mariners (85 wins ‘09), the Cubs (97 wins in ‘08), Rockies (92 wins ‘09), Padres (90 wins ‘10) maybe the Astros despite their 2005 NL Pennant and 86 win 2008, and surprisingly the Twins who have turned in 3 straight 60 win seasons despite an amazingly consistent run in the 90s (even they won 94 as recently as 2010). That's a pretty short list and nothing that compares to some of the recently ended droughts by the Rays, Orioles, Reds, Pirates, and Royals.

One could argue that the Marlins and Mets belong in the list above, but the Marlins have secured two titles in their brief history, and along with the Mets, have horrible owners who are tough to root for. The Mets are a strong candidate for this list as they have not cracked 80 wins since ‘08 and have not cracked 90 since ‘06- but even then they were only a few breaks away from going to the World Series. It is hard for me to put them on the list as a huge-market team who should have no problem cracking 85 wins for just showing up.

Alas, there are no true stand-out teams this year for the “would be cool if they were good” award. There is a short list of teams who have had a 3-6 bad years. It is nothing like the droughts the Pirates, Royals, Rays, and Orioles were in the midst of for the bulk of the past two decades.

It is a great time to be a baseball fan knowing that your team has a good shot of making noise within a 3-4 year period. The expansion era has never seen such parity. Sure not every year is going to be roses, but things can turn around quickly. And if you happen to see another team that has hit hard times, feel free to root for them and think, “it would be cool if they were finally good again”- because they make for moments like this.

Author

Joe Bandini is passionate baseball fan in every sense of the phrase. His passions range from scouting and development, to the front office and business management, stadium design & architecture, and of course, the on field competition.Joe is the Creator and Owner of Bullpen Videos.